Navigation Fear? Not If You Use Fitt’s Law the Right Way!

Navigation in a website is achieved by pointing with a mouse, physically touching your smartphone screen with your finger or stylus. When buttons are too small, or the site does not display correctly on your smartphone, navigation can be frustrated. This process can be described by Fitt’s Law, “The time required to move to a target is a function of the target size and distance to the target”(Universal Principals of Design). Point and clicking and how fast the user will be able to move around the web page are of vital concern to the Webdesignerand the end user.

The time required to move to a target is a function of the target size and distance to the target

Click image gif to illustrate Fitt’s law in action

Fitt’s Law in Action

The illustration above depicts Fitt’s law in action. I use a Grammarly plugin with WordPress that helps me proofread my blog post. The vertical and horizontal position of the no.2 is constrained against the edge of the text window. Placing the button here significantly reduces the movement that I have to take when I need to view the grammatical issues that I need to resolve.

At Bailey Street Design when designing a navigation system we consider strategies that will improve the performance and reduce errors on your website.

If you would like a hand with a design project, please do not hesitate to Get in Touch.